"I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895, was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail and filled away from Boston, where the Spray had been moored snugly all winter. The 12 o'clock whistles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail."Sounds easy enough. And a few days and a 110 years ago, 54-year-old Joshua Slocum "tied the knot" on his voyage, becoming the first sailor to circumnavigate alone. His solo voyage aboard Spray lasted a little over three years, ending on June 27, 1898. During the trip, he was chased by pirates, celebrated by island kings and almost drowned a couple of times in storms. Slocum sailed 46,000 miles, sometimes staying for weeks or months at his stops along the way. The longest Slocum spent at sea without a stop was 72 days in the Pacific.
His account of the voyage, Sailing Alone Around the World, is a classic in sailing literature. Got a few minutes to read something great? Download Sailing Alone here.
And speaking of sailing around the world alone -- and maybe needing something to read right now -- be sure to check out Zac Sunderland, the 16-year-old who set out to become the youngest sailor to solo-circumnavigate the globe several weeks ago. Here is Zac's Blog, and here's a recent article about his current light air difficulties from the L.A. Times.
What do you get when you cross a paper chart with the web's ultimate mapper, Google Maps? Something very "new web" (web 2.0), or in plain English, really cool. Make that really cool 2.0.